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London Bombings - 7th July 2005
Whilst the bombings had nothing to do with Joinees, London is a hub of Join Me activity, and Joinees all over the place where concerned about who was safe. Here is the forum thread which deals with the initial confusion and panic: EVERYONE OK?? A role call finally revealed that all London Joinees were accounted for. Many Joinees were effectively stranded in London. Many of them took refuge at the Cock for the night. Joinees tried to help out during the situations, by providing buscuits for emergency workers in the area. Saturday 9th June 2005 was also a date when some Joinees planned a trip around London's Circle Line in order to perform RAoKs to Londoners. The following articles are (edited) from BBC and Sky News: London Blasts Timeline * 08.49 - Emergency services called to London's Liverpool Street Station after reports of an explosion on Metropolitan Line between Liverpool Street and Aldgate. Initially reported as "some kind of power surge". * 08.51 - Police called to Aldgate station in east London. * 09.22 - King's Cross, Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations cleared of passengers. * 09.31 - Incident causes major disruption to the entire network with stations across the capital being closed. * 09.33 - London Underground reports "another incident at Edgware Road" station in northwest London. * 09.53 - Mainline train company First Great Western says its services into London's Paddington station terminating at Reading in Berkshire. * 10.00 - The National Grid, which supplies power to the Underground, says there have been no problems with its system which could have contributed to the incidents. * 10.13 - Union officials say their sources have told them there had been at least one explosive device on the Underground. One explosion happened at Edgware Road and there were suggestions of two others at King's Cross and Aldgate. * 10.14 - Reports of a bus being ripped apart in an explosion in Upper Woburn Place. * 10.19 - Mainline services being halted short of London. The Silverlink company, which normally operates into Euston station, terminating trains at Watford Junction, Hertfordshire. * 10.25 - Union sources say they have received reports of explosions on three buses in central London. * 10.32 - Mainline London to Scotland train company GNER says it does not expect its East Coast Main Line services to run into London at any time. * 11.02 - Home Secretary Charles Clarke confirms there have been "terrible injuries" in the explosions across London. * 12.00 - Tony Blair condemns terrorist attack as a barbaric act, and offers his sympathies to the victims and their families. * 13.00 - Pope Benedict condemns the blasts as "barbaric acts against humanity". * 13.35 - President Bush says Tony Blair carries a "message of solidarity" with him as he heads back to London from the G8 summit in Gleneagles. * 14.15 - A Transport for London spokeswoman said the bus hit by the explosion was a number 30, travelling from Hackney to Marble Arch. * 15.05 - Scotland Yard issues the following casualty hotline number: 0870 1566 344. * 15.25 - In a press conference, police confirm at least 33 people have been killed in the blasts across London. Officials confirm seven were killed when an explosion went off on a Central or Circle Line train 100 yards into a tunnel from Liverpool Street at 08.51. * 15.26 - Police say at 08.56, an explosion in a Tube train at King's Cross/Russell Square killed 21 people. * 15.27 - Police say at 09.17, an explosion at Edgware Road blew a hole through a wall. Three trains were involved. Five people were killed. * 15.28 - Police say that at 09.47, an explosion ripped apart a bus at Upper Woburn Place, near Euston station. They say there were fatalities, but are unable to confirm the figure at this time. * 15.29 - Police say no warning was given for the attacks. * 16.30 - The Union Jack flying at Buckingham Palace lowered to half-mast, at the Queen's request, in a mark of respect for the dead and injured. * 16.50 - Union Flag will be flown at half-mast on all Government buildings tomorrow, it is announced by the Government. * 17.13 - Union sources said the number 30 bomb blast bus was on diversion after it emerged the driver had stopped to ask the name of the street, shortly before the vehicle exploded. * 17.26 - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "devastated" by the attacks. * 17.33 - A grim Tony Blair pledges Britain will not be intimidated by the string of terrorist bombings which killed at least 33 people in London. * 18.19 - Transport Secretary Alistair Darling vows to restore London's transport system as soon as possible. * 18.26 - Police said the number of fatalities stood at 37. They confirmed two people had died on the bus near Euston station. * 18.45 - Some main line services at King's Cross and Liverpool Street resume operations. Terror Attacks on London At least 37 people have been killed and 700 injured in a series of terror attacks on London. There are indications suicide bombers were involved and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the attacks bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda. The first blast hit a train leaving Liverpool Street Station between Moorgate and Aldgate East at 8.51am. Seven people are confirmed dead in the blast. At 8.56am another blast hit a train between King's Cross and Russell Square, killing 21 people. Seven people were later killed in an explosion at Edgware Road Tube station at 9.17am. Three trains are believed to have been hit. At 9.47am a number 30 bus at Upper Woburn Place was hit by a fourth blast. Emergency services have confirmed at least two people were killed in this attack. The entire Tube network has been shut down following the blasts at Edgware Road, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, Aldgate, Moorgate and Leicester Square. British Transport Police confirmed there are "walking wounded" and said paramedics have responded to one report of a person classed as "life at risk". "It's chaos, with people trying to work out what has happened," said a spokesman. One witness said the packed underground train he was on was 200 metres from King's Cross when there was a huge flash. The train stopped and people were using umbrellas to smash windows of the trains. Passengers were led out of the train by underground staff. He added people were milling around King's Cross covered in soot. London hospitals have reported a total of 300 wounded arriving by ambulance after the blasts. The city remained chaotic into the evening as millions of people struggled to make their way home - and come to terms with the bombings. A previously unknown group calling itself the "Secret Organisation al Qaeda in Europe" said it carried out the attacks as revenge for British "military massacres" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Forensics experts are combing the bomb sites to locate any evidence. The Union Flag will be flown at half mast on all Government buildings on Friday in recognition of the loss of life. Bus "Ripped In Two" One eyewitness described "half a bus flying through the air" as an explosion ripped apart a London bus. The incident happened in Russell Square. Belinda Seabrook said: "I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double decker bus was in the air. Mrs Seabrook said the bus was travelling from Euston to Russell Square and had been "packed" with people turned away from Tube stops. "It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air, I think it was the number 205," she said. "There must be a lot of people dead as all the buses were packed, they had been turning people away from the tube stops. We were about 20 metres away, that was all." "I was on the bus. I looked round and the seats behind me were gone," another witness who was on one of the buses said. Parking attendant Ade Soji, 35, of Dagenham, Essex, said he had to run for his life after the bus exploded. He said: "I was helping a member of the public with directions when the bus stopped and the driver asked me the name of the street. I told him Tavistock Square and he called me over. Just as I was about to go, I heard the bus explode. In another second I would have been dead. I had to run for my life. I looked back and saw the roof flying over." Paul Tripea, owner of the Russell Square Cafe, said people had rushed inside following the explosion. "One of the security guards from a nearby hotel rushed in and said he saw the bus explode around Tavistock Square," said Mr Tripea. "We have also heard that there is a suspect package in Russell Square." Sky News journalist Bob Mills said: "The top of the bus had clearly been blown off and looking at the wreckage it looks as if the bomb or whatever it was placed at the back of the top deck. People were using tables from a nearby hotel as a stretcher." Suzanne Flowerday, 16, who is doing work experience in Soho, said: "I just heard a bang and the roof and back of the bus came off. "There was debris everywhere and people running around. There were police and fire brigade everywhere - everyone was distraught, no-one knows what is going on. "It can't be a power surge if buses are blowing up as well. There was a woman who had cracked ribs and another lady, half of her face was hanging off. I could've been blown up with a lot of others. There are people standing aimlessly in the street." Another eyewitness called Angie said: "There was a whole crowd of people around the bus and the next thing I knew I'm on the floor. "Someone fell on me - I just ran into the nearest building. The bus was ripped off at the back - it couldn't have been anything else but terrorism." An eyewitness in the Tavistock Place area told Sky News: "I was walking along. There was a whole crowd of people around the bus. The next thing I knew I was on the floor. There was shedloads of glass raining down. "Someone fell on me and someone fell on him. For a moment I thought I was going to be trampled. "I picked myself up and everyone was running. There was glass everywhere. We ran into a building and a security guard was saying `get in, get in'. Then the security guard said `get out' which was a bit scary. Asked about the possibility of a terrorist attack, she said: "I saw the bus ripped out at the back ... it couldn't have been anything else." Kurush Anklesaria told Sky Online: "I was on the train going from Bayswater station sitting in the first compartment of the train and after passing Paddington station at around 8.50am there was a huge blast just at the side of my feet and part of the floor was reeped open and flew up on the top of the tube. "The whole compartment was full of smoke and I was covered in debris. I was brought down from the front of the train and walked on the rails to the Edgware Road station. I walked to my house and I am at home pretty shaken by the incident." Another said: "The roof of the number 59 bus had been torn off during the blast near Russell Square in central London. "Passengers from the nearby Russell Square Underground station were evacuated - some on stretchers." Ken Livingstone: "Cowardly Terrorists" London mayor Ken Livingstone said the blasts which stunned the city were "mass murder" by "cowardly terrorists". But in a defiant message to the culprits, he said Londoners would remain strong "no matter how many people you kill". He said: "This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners." Mr Livingstone called for people not to make unnecessary journeys. He said: "Black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindus and Jews, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, class, religion whatever." Addressing the attackers, Mr Livingstone vowed London would quickly recover. "I know that you do fear you may fail in your long term objective: to destroy our free society. And I will show you why you will fail. In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our seaports and look at our railways. Nothing you do, however many of us you kill will stop that life. Where freedom is strong and people can live in harmony, whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail." Tony Blair: "They Won't intimidate Us" The Prime Minister has vowed that Britain will not be intimidated by those responsible for the London transport bombings. Tony Blair said: "There will of course now be the most intense police and security service action to make sure that we bring those responsible to justice." The Prime Minister had flown back to London from the G8 summit in Scotland to see the situation in the capital for himself. He immediately chaired a meeting of Cobra, a committee of various senior ministers and security officials. Afterwards, he said: "It is through terrorism that the people that have committed these terrible acts express their values and it is right at this moment that we demonstrate ours. "I think we all know what they are trying to do. They are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to frighten us out of doing the things that we want to do, trying to stop us from going about our business as normal, as we are entitled to do and they should not and they must not succeed. When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated. When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods, we will not be changed. "I would also pay tribute to the stoicism and resilience of the people of London who have responded in a way typical of them." Mr Blair welcomed a statement from the Muslim Council of Great Britain condemning the terrorist acts. He added: "We know that these people act in the name of Islam but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor those who do this every bit as much as we do." The Prime Minister later flew back to the G8 summit in Scotland. George Bush: "We Will Never Yield" President Bush has praised the resilience of Londoners after the deadly transport bombings. The American leader pledged to "stay on the offence" in the war on terrorism and urged Americans to remain alert. "In this dark hour, the people of Great Britain can know that the American people stand with them," he said in a weekly radio address. "This week, there is great suffering in the city of London. Yet the British people are resilient, and they have faced brutal enemies before." It is thought the attacks bear the hallmarks of al Qaeda - the Islamic militant group behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. After returning from the G8 summit on Friday, Mr Bush visited the British Embassy in Washington. He signed a book of condolence and laid a wreath in front of the ambassador's residence. The president said the London attacks were a reminder of the "evil" of 9/11 and underscored that the United States and its allies were fighting a "global war on terror." "The free world is united in its resolve: We will never yield to terrorists and murderers," he said. "We will fight until the enemy is defeated. We will stay on the offence, fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them at home." He warned Americans to stay vigilant. World Reacts In Horror To Attacks World condemnation was swift following the co-ordinated terrorist attacks in central London. The French Government immediately increased its terror alert to red and offered its "unity" with the British people. French President Jacques Chirac told Tony Blair of his horror at the outrage and expressed France's solidarity, his spokesman said. "The president told the British prime minister that the tragic events in London fill him with horror, and expressed his grief and condolence," Jerome Bonnafont said. French PM Dominque de Villepin added: "More than ever, democracies must rally together and show unity in the face of the terrorist threat. More than ever, we must show vigilance and determination." French members of parliament suspended work in solidarity with the victims. The Palestinian Authority on "strongly condemned" the bombings. "We present our condolences to the British people and their government," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat. Offers of condolensces were offered from Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and other European countries. Irish Taoseach Bertie Ahern described the attacks as "appalling". President Bush, at the G8 summit in Gleneages, said he was "impressed" with the resolve of all the leaders to fight terrorism. Pope Benedict XVI condemned the attacks as "inhuman and anti-Christian," in a telegram to the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor. He added he learned of the attacks "with pain" and wanted to assure the victims and their families that he was spiritually close to them. The Spanish government issued a statement strongly condemning the "savage attacks" that rocked London and expressed its solidarity with the British people. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said: "Turkey denounces all kinds of terrorism and is always ready to cooperate against all forms of terrorism." Former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani - in London on business - praised Londoners for their reaction to the attacks. "Every New Yorker would join me in saying we know what you are going through," he said. "London has responded with bravery." Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "Again we witness unscrupulous terrorist attacks on totally innocent people, civilians, women and children." Authorities in the Netherlands immediately stepped up security at its borders and at British sites across the country. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said: "We will stand by our neighbour in these difficult hours and days." President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who was in London, said: "I join millions around the world in condemning this terrorist attack and offer the full solidarity of all Nigerians to you at this trying time." Muslims Condemn Attacks Muslim groups across Britain condemned the terrorist bombings in London. The Muslim Council of Britain said it "utterly condemns the perpetrators of what appears to be a series of co-ordinated attacks". "These evil deeds makes victims of us all. The evil people who planned and carried out these series of explosions in London want to demoralise us as a nation and divide us as a people. All of us must unite in helping the police to capture these murderers. Some Muslim groups fear a backlash. Some British Muslims reported being attacked or harassed following the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Madrid train bombings. The Muslim News, based in Harrow, Middlesex, unreservedly condemned the bombings in London. Editor Ahmed Versi said: "We unequivocally condemn these terrorist attacks. We express our deep condolences to the families, relatives and friends of the victims." But while the condemnations were expressed, Muslims across the capital feared they might be targets of attacks. Karim Mohammed, manager of Hilal House restaurant on Edgware Road, said: "Everyone is subdued and people are wondering what has happened. People are asking how will it affect us, are we going to be treated in a nice way after this? "We have nothing to do with this." Latest Details It has been revealed that the three bombs on the London Underground during Thursday morning's rush hour exploded almost simultaneously. The blasts happened within 50 seconds of each other, at about 8.50am. The first was at Aldgate-Liverpool Street, followed by the explosions at Edgware Road and King's Cross. London Underground managing director Tim O'Toole said: "It was bang, bang, bang, very close together". A fourth bomb, on the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square, exploded at 9.47am. At least 49 people were killed in the attacks and 700 injured. Around 25 people are missing. The Government has announced a two-minute silence will be staged at noon on Thursday to remember the victims. A 24-hour reception centre is being opened for anxious relatives and friends. There has been a second claim on the internet that al Qaeda terrorists carried out the bombings. Tony Blair has said "all the surveillance in the world" could not have stopped the terrorists. The Prime Minister also paid tribute to the "great resilience" of the British people. Two Spanish forensic teams who worked on the Madrid bomb attacks last year are assisting the investigation. Emergency workers attempting to recover bodies from the scene of the King's Square tube blast have been hampered by stifling and dust, it has emerged. The roof of the bus that was torn apart by a bomb in Tavistock square has been taken away for examination. Most Tube services have been restored but some sections of the Underground will remain closed for a while. All bus services are operating normally and all mainline stations are open.